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The Influence of Acceptance & Divine Inspiration

Published on 1/27/2017

I’m not writing this for any self serving pity party… I learned a long time ago that doesn’t help anyone… I just want to try to make clear my vision of how life happens sometimes when it ventures out of our control… I also learned the only way to deal with these kinds of things are to accept them as part of life… I use the Serenity Prayer:

This past Holiday season was one of great challenge & sadness for my family & myself… Two weeks before Christmas my daughter Terri, suffered a massive stroke… After they got her to the hospital she was stabilized & today she is making a slow recovery… I don’t remember the exact date we found out but I knew my second son Brett, was having life threatening health issues… After all the tests the doctors told him there were too many serious things wrong with him & that he didn’t have but approximately three weeks to live… Before he passed away I was rushed to the hospital with such intense chest pains it felt like I was having a massive heart attack… After all the tests it was determined that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my heart, that the pain I was experiencing was caused by stress… I didn’t know that stress could affect us like that…

By January 11th Brett passed away, but not before we had a beneficial conversation of closure for both of us… It was good because he was able to tell me the Good Lord brought him into this world & he was ready to have the Lord take him Home & out of this painful earthly existence… You see, the difficult part of all this is that my daughter lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan & Brett in Pensacola, Florida… I live about 20 miles north of St. Petersburg, Florida… The last time I went up north in the winter I wound up extremely sick with a virus… With below zero weather & all the ice & snow I couldn’t take that chance… I was planning on making the 8 hour trip to Pensacola the Saturday before Brett passed but wound up in the emergency room that Friday… I’m grateful I wasn’t on the road when that happened…

Now for the moral of the story with an unusual twist of fate… Yesterday I was trying to get up to date on Facebook where I’m doing some online marketing… I have close to 500 friends from all over the country & various parts of the world… When they realized what was happening from reading the updates I was making for my family, the most beautiful thing happened… So many of them offered their prayers & were so supportive that mere words can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for my family & myself… Say what you will about Facebook but these are the special kind of people I want to be my friends… Well, last night I ran across this little video that had a message that seemed like it was made specifically for me… It had been shared on Facebook by my Grandson, James… That’s the beauty of Divine Inspiration at work… Things like that happen & I guess through the years I have learned to pay attention to those little God nudges when they happen as if by some kind of magic… I guess that’s how I know that God is working in my life as he makes his presence known to me… I’m so grateful & I feel very blessed to know everything will be alright as it’s all in God’s hands… I never have to face such difficult times like this alone… All I need to do is Let Go & Let God… I know that my friends & family will support me the rest of the way…

P.S. Just look at the beautiful video I found… I’ve asked for permission to use this from the people who produced it… The Serenity Prayer has a very special meaning for me because I’m a recovering alcoholic who hasn’t had a drink in 26 years… Though I’ve had many challenges since I got sober I have much Gratitude that I never had to pick up another drink… Yep, finding this video is another God nudge…